


Triumvirate

by esm3rald



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Against Albus Dumbledore, Against Muggles, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon, Childhood Friends, Dark Harry, Dark Harry Potter, Dark Magic, Dark-Lady-in-training - Female Harry Potter, Dark-Lord-in-training - Gellert Grindelwald, Dark-Lord-in-training - Tom Riddle, Evil Harry, Evil Harry Potter, F/M, Female Harry, Female Harry Potter, Fight pro Dark Arts, Magically Powerful Harry, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Multi, Orphanage, Powerful Harry, Powerful Harry Potter, Revenge Fiction, Romance, Smart Harry, Smart Harry Potter, Young Gellert Grindelwald, light Dumbledore Bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 16:13:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2857010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esm3rald/pseuds/esm3rald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleanor Potter has been imprisoned in Nurmengard for the past eight years, after having killed Voldemort. Now, with Grindelwald's help and a particular spell, she's ready to get her revenge on the ones who used her all her life. It's a spell able to modify her reality as she wants it to. And what she wants is having the two most powerful dark wizards that ever lived at her side. GG/HP/TMR (Threesome). AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, I should not begin a new story but this idea couldn't leave me alone.
> 
> This story is inspired a little by 'The Count of Montecristo' by Alexandre Dumas. I always wanted to do a 'revenge' fic and I always wanted to do a story with a young Gellert Grindelwald so here I am.
> 
> This story is a Tom/FemHarry/Grindelwald. The story won't be a love triangle but a threesome. Grindelwald, Tom and FemHarry will be lovers besides being the rulers of the Wizarding World - eventually.
> 
> This story is set during the 'Harry Potter years' so 1980's-90's.
> 
> The prologue refers to some events different from the books. The events of the books stayed pretty much the same with the exception of the seventh book, the only differences are these ones:
> 
> \- Voldemort disarmed Dumbledore at the Ministry during fifth year, becoming the Master of the Elder Wand.
> 
> \- Dumbledore faked his death at the end of the sixth year.
> 
> \- Voldemort didn't kill Grindelwald.
> 
> \- FemHarry actually applied herself to her studies and studied on her own to have a chance to kill Voldemort.
> 
> I really hope you like my idea!

****

**Prologue**

_Nurmengard Prison - 31st October 2006_

__

"Do you really think I can do this? The amount of magic is going to require is...unimaginable" She looked at his mentor, the man that had given her the strength to go on in the last eight years.

"Yes, I think you can" There was not a hint of doubt in his cerulean blue eyes. Gellert had always believed in her, even when she had lost faith in herself. "You have your extraordinary powers. And you've absorbed Voldemort's magic when you killed him. Besides, you will soon have my magic too".

"No!" She protested immediately. "You are not going to die just to give me what I want. I won't allow it"

"I'm dying anyway darling and there's nothing you or I can do to stop it" She looked at the most powerful and feared Dark Lord besides Voldemort and noticed something that she had avoided noticing before. Gellert looked tired, haggard, like all his strength and power was abandoning him, little by little. He was right, he was dying.

The idea of losing him was excruciating. He was all she had left.

"I love you Gellert" She whispered, not able to hold back the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

"I love you too darling" He said with a gentle smile. "Oh, if only I were a hundred years younger. I was a really handsome fellow when I was younger" he said with a wink and she couldn't keep herself from laughing.

"You are still handsome Gellert" She said with a smile, before becoming serious once again. "If this work you and I will have the same age" She said with a little awe in her voice.

"Yes. You, me and Tom Riddle" His voice was void of emotions but she felt the sudden urge to justify herself.

"I...I don't know why I want him back. I just feel like I have to..."

"You lived with a shard of his soul for sixteen years. He's a part of you"

"Yeah, maybe he is. Me and Tom have always been so...similar. I want to know him as he was, before becoming 'Lord Voldemort', when he was the charming and charismatic young man I met during my second year" Gellert nodded at her in understanding but she spoke before he could add anything "But I want you with me too. I can't stand the idea of losing you Gellert"

"I know"

"Am I selfish? For wanting both of you?" She asked in a small voice.

"Maybe you are. But it doesn't matter. You deserve to get anything that you want. And trust me, me and Tom are lucky, that we both mean so much to you". She smiled at him but she was still scared.

"I can't believe such a spell exists in the first place" She said then, going back to the topic that began their conversation.

"If there's the intent, then there's the spell that matches this intent. Nothing is impossible when it comes to magic".

"Yes, but an actual 'warping-reality' spell? It seems too much like sci-fiction".

"Sci-what?" Gellert asked confused.

"Muggle stuff" She answered, with a wave of her hand, like to chase away a fly.

"You need to take my magic now darling" Gellert said then "I won't maintain my strength for much longer"

She nodded, trying to appear strong but Gellert could see right through her like always "Come here darling" He said, from the bed where he was lying. She came closer to him and put her head on his stomach, feeling his hand caressing her hair. "Everything will be alright. Remember why you are doing this..."

"I know...this is the only way. To have you back, to have Tom back. To win the war, to change the world. To have my revenge..." She finished, her eyes cold as stone now.

"Yes. If you do this, the three of us will be at the pinnacle of our powers and nobody will be able to stop us. Not even Albus..."

"Don't say that name in my presence" Her voice was as hard as stone "If I'm here is because of him. Everything that has happened in my life has been because of him. He made my life a living hell"

"I know. But if you do this, you will be able to beat him. And best thing of all, we'll have the Wizarding World that we have always wanted, completely separated by muggles and without stupid prejudices against dark magic".

A new resolve took possession of her. Gellert was right. His death would only be a temporary one. With the spell she was about to do, he would come back, young and powerful and with friends just as powerful as him: herself and Tom.

She took a deep breath before taking his hands in hers. She shared one last, long look with him but she didn't utter the 'goodbye' that wanted to spill from her lips. This was not a real goodbye. They would see each other again.

She closed her eyes and felt the powerful waves of his Gellert's magic reaching out to her. She pushed her magic forward and then, once her magic had touched his, she started to pull, sucking all the magic from Grindelwald's body like a vacuum cleaner sucked dust.

It was an ability she had realized to possess when she had become the Master of Death, when she had beaten Voldemort in a duel and took the Elder Wand away from him. Unfortunately he had escaped before she had been able to kill him. The second time he had not been so lucky and with the help of the Elder Wand, she had sucked all the magic from him until he had died - a wizard could not survive without magic.

And that was the reason why she had been imprisoned in Nurmengard for the last eight years since Voldemort had destroyed Azkaban as soon as the Wizarding World at large had found out about his return - after having freed every single death eater that had been locked up there of course.

She could feel Gellert's life leaving his body with his magic but she knew she couldn't stop. She needed Grindelwald's magic for the spell or everything would be for nothing.

Finally, finally, even when the last amount of magic had been sucked out of him, Gellert stopped breathing, his mesmerizing eyes locked with hers. She freed her hands from his and closed his eyes. She kissed his lips chastely and then left his cell through the tunnel he had created that connected his cell with hers.

This was the moment. She needed to do the spell now. Now that the guards would be distracted because of Gellert's death.

She didn't lose any time in cutting her wrists with a rock, letting her blood flow freely, forming a circle around her. She draw with her finger, first the symbol that represented her - her scar - in front of her, using her blood. Then Gellert's - the symbol of the Hallows - on her right and then Tom's - a snake - on her left.

She closed her eyes and concentrated exactly on what she wanted to achieve, visualizing it with as many details as possible.

_1986\. Wool Orphanage. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Gellert Grindelwald. Herself. 6 years old. Doing magic together._

She replayed this scene in her mind, over and over again. Then finally, when she felt that her strength was leaving her because of all the blood she was losing, she released all the magic she had inside her body - her magic, Voldemort's magic, Grindelwald's magic - creating an explosion so powerful that she was sure the entire prison had felt it.

Then she felt no more, blacking out completely, her heart stopping.


	2. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is short but it's an interlude, not a real chapter. The real chapter 1 will be the one after this one and we'll see the visit from the Hogwarts staff and the introduction into the Wizarding World. Sorry if you were expecting more chapters about Eleanor, Tom and Gellert at the orphanage but I didn't really have any intention of writing them. It's possible that I could write some flashback scenes later on but that's it. I just want to go to the good parts, meaning the Hogwarts years. Hope you like it anyway!

** **

**Interlude**

_Wool Orphanage, 31st July 1988_

Eleanor woke up like every other morning in the room of the orphanage that had been her sleeping place for the last seven years, since she had been left on the Wool Orphanage's doorstep the night of the 31st of October 1981, when she was barely more than one year old. That today was her birthday didn't really matter, not to her or to anyone else there, expect maybe for the two people that had been her best friends - her only friends really - since she could remember.

She had been tormented by strange dreams all night. Some were more like nightmares, terrifying nightmares. And other were fantastical dreams, like she was part of a fairytale where she was the main character. There was magic in it, this entire world she had been catapulted in was a world of magic. And in some way, it was exactly like a fairytale would be. There was a bad guy and she was the hero destined to defeat him. But there hadn't been a happy ending waiting for her at the end of the road. After she had killed this Voldemort character in a epic battle, she had been thrown into prison. Betrayed by the people she had saved. The details were a little fuzzy around the edges, but she remembered that much. That horrible sense of hurt and betrayal mixed with resignation, almost like she was already expecting that something like that would happen but hoping it wouldn't at the same time.

She didn't really believe that something like this could possibly be real, and yet the intense feelings she had experienced in the dream had stayed with her, like she had really lived what she had dreamt.

But of course it wasn't possible. Nothing about the life in her dream had anything to do with her real life, beside the fact that she was an orphan.

First of all, she hadn't met any Dursleys ever, let alone ever lived with them. Since she could remember, she had always lived in the orphanage with her two best friends, Tom and Gellert.

She turned her head first on one side and then on the other and noticed that both of them were still sleeping. The three of them shared the room, the last one on the second floor corridor, on the right.

The three of them were almost the same age, though Tom was seven months older than her - he was born the 31st of December 1979 - and three months older than Gellert, who was born the 31st of March 1980, the same year she was born.

Tom had been born at the orphanage - his mother had given birth to him before dying - and had lived there since.

Gellert had been left there when he was barely six months old, after the only relative he had left - a great-aunt called Bathilda Bagshot - had died of a heart attack suddenly, leaving him all alone in the world.

She, on the other hand, was little more than one year old when she had been brought in the 31st of October 1981.

Since the orphanage was overcrowded and the three of them were the youngest ones in the entire orphanage, they had been put in the same crib. Then, when they had become older, the matron had tried to force her to stay in a room with other girls instead of two boys, but she wouldn't have it. Nobody could tell her what to do.

Since the first moment they had become old enough to become aware of their surroundings, they had realized that there was something that the three of them shared and that somehow set them apart from anybody else in that orphanage. Something that made them special, unique in a way that even they couldn't understand completely.

And it was that uniqueness that had bound them together irrevocably and set them apart from everyone else.

In the orphanage, they were ostracized, bullied even because they were considered 'freaks' since they were able to do things that the other children - the other normal people - couldn't do.

They were hurt at first, being treated this way, what child wouldn't be? But they would never give up their abilities for a chance at being normal.

Why give up on something that made them better than everyone else?

The hurt had certainly been there for a long time but, then, it was replaced with resentment. Now they had reached a point where the three of them hated everyone who wasn't like them. After all, they had always received the same treatment from other people, why not return the favor?

The three of them were different from each other but they also complement each other, from their looks to their personalities. It was like they fit in a way that felt natural, like they were always meant to meet and become friends.

Eleanor had long, curly, raven black hair and jade green eyes, Tom had wavy, dark ebony hair and dark - almost black - eyes and Gellert had straight, dirty blond hair and baby blue eyes.

Even their personalities were different. Where Gellert was gregarious and funny, Tom was moody and temperamental. Where Eleanor was sweet and polite, Tom was impulsive and sometimes even rude. Where Eleanor was cold and distant, Gellert was warm and affectionate.

But the three of them had some characteristics in common that had been partly brought up by the circumstances they lived in and partly by their natural tendencies. They were all sly, manipulative, highly intelligent and often cruel; or at least cruel to everyone who had ever tried to hurt them.

Every time some child from the orphanage had tried to bully them, they had retaliated in some way, using their abilities to make sure to never get caught, though they were often suspected of wrongdoings.

They were able to do a lot with their abilities. They had started by moving or making objects float without touching them, making things change color or making things become bigger or smaller. And then they had found out that they could hurt people just by wanting to.

The first to discover this ability had been her. She was trying to defend herself from an older boy at the orphanage who was hitting her. She was five, small and alone, since Gellert and Tom were studying in the library and she was on the first floor about to join them. This boy had stopped in front of her and had started to punch her. She only wanted him to stop and to hurt as much as she was hurting and suddenly, he had started to writhe on the floor, screaming in pain. She had looked at him, fascinated by his face contorted in agony and his eyes filled with tears. She had known immediately that she had been the one who caused it so she became desperate to repeat what she had done, this time consciously, like every other time their abilities had sparked up accidentally until they had learned how to replicate the phenomenon deliberately.

That had only been the first instance, because suddenly the three of them had become fascinated to learn how to use their abilities as a way to defend themselves against the children of the orphanage who wanted to hurt them.

The more the years passed, the more they found out - thanks also to fantasy books - just how much they could do with their abilities.

All three of them had find out for example that they could somehow read superficial thoughts and communicate with each other through them, but they were also able to manipulate people's minds. Each one of them had found a different way to do it and taught the others, like every other time it happened when one of them found out some new way to use their abilities.

Tom, for example, had found out that he was able to tell if someone was lying to him, and had the innate capacity to force someone to tell the truth and induce them to do what he wanted. Gellert had found out that he could manipulate people's emotions and sensations. And she had found out that she could get into people's head and make them see what she wanted them to.

The more they experimented with their abilities and the more they found out they were connected with each other mentally too, enough to be able to project each other's thoughts and abilities to each other, going as far as learning something one of the others could do just by entering each others' minds.

That's what happened when they found out that Tom could talk with snakes. Learning a language from someone who was born with this ability was very difficult, but Eleanor had simply looked into Tom's eyes while he was talking to a garden snake and she had immediately learned how to talk with snakes too. Then she had looked into Gellert's eyes and she had somehow projected to him the ability to talk with snakes. Now the three of them could talk in a language that no one else knew.

It was often like this with them. She was the one that was somehow always in the middle between them; the peacemaker when Tom and Gellert's ambitious personalities ended up clashing with each others, the one the two of them fought over like siblings in front of a shiny toy, the one that kept the three of them together no matter what.

Eleanor loved them both equally and though they loved each other like brothers, she knew they loved  _her_  more and would do anything for her, even if it meant having to share her with each other and accept the presence of the other in her life. And she had no intention of losing either of them. The three of them were stronger together and as long as they stayed that way, they would achieve anything they put their minds into.


	3. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait. I really have no excuses. This story is NOT ABANDONED however. I'll keep updating even if the updates will be very slow. I hope you like this chapter. Next one will be the trip to Diagon Alley.

**Chapter 1**

_Wool's Orphanage, 15_ _th_ _July 1991_

Eleanor brushed her long, black hair in front of the big, golden-painted mirror. She had found the mirror in the trash, broken and dirty, but she had fixed it with a touch just because she had wanted to.

Gellert was at the desk, the only one in the room, writing something, probably some advanced math problem he was so fond of.

Tom was behind her, lying on his bed, his gaze concentrated on the book in his hands. The bookcase to his right – the place where that book usually rested – was full of other similar books, some were fantasy books, others were about a variety of different subjects that most people would have found too advanced for three eleven years old. No subject was too advanced for them though. From biology to maths, physics, chemistry, geography, history, greek, latin, modern languages. It didn't matter what it was. Every subject as far as they were concerned was equally important. Knowledge was power after all and the more they knew the better the possibility was of them being able of one day leave that wretched orphanage and create a life for themselves, become someone, someone important.

They had bought the books but they had stolen the money they had used to buy them. Stealing from a store was more difficult, that was why they had decided to steal from passersby instead. Of course three children without adults to accompany them, having so much money, would have appeared a little weird. Fortunately they didn't look like orphans because they were able to change the clothes that the orphanage provided into clothes that rich kids wore. This way, even if they were alone, the clerks usually turned a blind eye to the fact that they were alone as long as they were able to afford what they wanted to buy.

If someone gave them problems though, they would simply use their abilities to 'convince' them of doing what they wanted.

To avoid unnecessary risks though, they had decided to go in a store one at a time, never the three of them together, and no more than once a week. London was a very big city and there were a lot of bookstores, though only three near the orphanage. Only on the weekends they were allowed to actually explore and go where they wanted around the city.

Of course a lot of the money they had stolen had been used for food since what they passed at the orphanage left a lot to be desired.

Life had become so much easier since they had discovered that they could control the strange things that had started to happen when they were really young. Now the possibilities of what they could do seem endless. All they had to do was wanting it.

While her thoughts were busy with these musings, Gellert's voice coming from in front of the window said "Eleanor, Tom, come look. Someone's coming."

"Must be someone who's looking for a child to adopt." Came Tom's bored voice from behind the book.

"I don't know. She's dressed in a rather odd way."

"Odd how?" Eleanor asked, now curious.

"In a green robe? Almost like she's from another era or something."

Eleanor joined Gellert at the window and looked at the person standing in front of the door impatiently. She was probably in her seventies, her face was stern, her brown and grey hair collected in a chignon.

"I've seen this woman before." Eleanor said, startled.

"Really? Where?" Came Tom's voice from behind her.

"In my dreams. I think her name is Professor McGonagall."

Eleanor had told Tom and Gellert about the dreams that had plagued her since she was eight. They didn't know what to make of it but they had never dismissed it as simple dreams either. Now they had proof that they were something more than simple dreams.

"You mean that what you saw in your dreams could be real?" Gellert asked, excitement in his voice.

"Some of it could be." Eleanor nodded.

"You mean, about the magic." Tom said, a hungry look in his eyes.

"Maybe. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Eleanor said with a smirk. Then with a warning look towards Tom and Gellert she said. "Don't reveal what we can do. As far as they'll know strange things happened to us but we had no control over them. And don't ever think about telling her that we can talk to snakes. We'll be eager, curious kids that have just found out magic is real, just like in a fairytale, and we're so very excited that we get to be part of this magical world. At least, if what I saw in my dreams is actually real."

Tom and Gellert nodded and Eleanor smiled at them. She looked at herself then and noticed that the clothes she was wearing were too new for orphans to wear.

"We should change. Put on our uniforms. We wouldn't want to make her suspicious, right?"

Eleanor searched in the wardrobe for their uniforms and then, after having passed one each, started to change in front of them. She had no qualms about being seeing naked in front of them. They had known each other since they were infants, they had showered together more times that she could count, just so that they could use as much hot water as possible.

It was a little different now though, she supposed, because her body was changing. She knew what was happening of course, she had read about it. She was slowly turning into a woman. Her hips were a little wider now and the shape of her still developing breasts was just vaguely visible even covered by shirts or pullovers.

Sometimes she would catch Tom and Gellert watching her, probably having noticed too the differences in her body but she didn't let it bother her. Special or not because of the things she could do, she was still human and if there was one thing that humans had in common was the fact that they changed over time. She didn't know if she was happy about it. Not that she wanted to be a child forever of course, it was bad enough that they had to fight tooth and nails to be taken seriously by the adults here, she didn't want to imagine how bad it was going to be when faced with adults that actually had magic like them.

And yet, growing up meant that they would die one day and the idea of suddenly ceasing to exist scared her. There was so much she wanted to accomplish, the idea that her aspirations could never become real was unbearable.

Once the three of them were back in their faded, grey uniform – the same shirt and jacket plus a skirt that reached her knees for her and trousers for the boys – they each returned to the position they had been before they had noticed McGonagall's arrival, waiting impatiently – though none of them showed it – for the matron to knock on the door and telling them they had a visitor.

A few minutes later that was exactly what happened. Mrs Cole knocked on their door and told them that a certain Professor McGonagall wanted to speak with them.

The woman entered the room and observed them with curious eyes. Eleanor was the first to move from her position and asked her "Good morning professor. Would you like to take a seat?" She pointed to the chair she was sitting on before.

The professor smiled slightly at her politeness and said "Thank you, Miss Potter."

When McGonagall was seated and both Eleanor and Gellert had joined Tom on the bed – now Tom was sitting down – they waited for the woman to speak.

"Like Mrs Cole said I'm Professor McGonagall. I'm a teacher and I'm here to offer you a place at my school. I'm also the Deputy Headmistress."

Eleanor tried to contain her enthusiasm at the almost confirmation of the fact that magic was real. Her face was blank however, only curiosity shining on her face. "What kind of school professor?"

"The school is called Hogwarts and it's a school for special people. We – the staff and I – believe you have the requisits we're searching for."

"All three of us, professor?" Tom asked. Fortunately Tom had learned to be polite and charming when it was necessary, especially with the adults, though he was still naturally predisposed towards moodiness.

"All three of you, yes. However, I have to admit that it's the first time that something like this happened, for three future Hogwarts student to be in the same place without actually being related."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you professor but when you say special, what do you mean?" Gellert spoke this time.

"Have you ever done something that you can't explain, when you were angry or scared?" McGonagall asked instead of answering.

Eleanor looked at Tom and Gellert, her eyes convening once again the need for them to stay silent about all that they could do.

"I'm not sure what you mean Professor." Eleanor faked ignorance.

McGonagall smiled at her in understanding. "I know that you're probably scared of talking about it. It's normal when you're surrounded by muggles who don't understand your abilities. But you have nothing to fear from me, I promise you. You can be honest." She encouraged gently.

Eleanor faked a look of nervousness before saying, "Well, once I was embarrassed because the teacher wanted me to read in front of the whole class and somehow her hair turned blue. I don't know how it happened, it just did."

McGonagall nodded at them. "That's perfectly normal dear. And you Mr Riddle, Mr Grindewald?"

Gellert smiled his brilliant smile at her and said, "Once I was running from some older guys at school – they were big bullies – and somehow I found myself on a tree, really high up. I didn't know how to get down after, it was a little scary." Gellert, always the perfect actor, said.

"Once the matron wanted me to wear a really ugly maroon sweater." Tom said next, feigning embarrassment. "It became smaller and smaller every time she tried to make me wear it."

The professor smiled at them, looking amused and said, "Well, you see, these are all examples of accidental magic."

"Excuse me professor, but are you sure, it seems so…impossible to believe. And, anyway, you said the word 'muggle' before, what does it mean?"

"A muggle is a person born without magic. And yes, Miss Potter, I'm rather sure that what you all did is magic. You are a witch and your friends here are wizards. In fact, Miss Potter, both your parents were a witch and a wizard."

"You knew my parents professor?" Eleanor asked curiously.

"I did. They were both my students. And I've never met better people than them. In fact your father was particularly versed in my subject."

"But what happened to them? They didn't…I mean….they didn't abandon me here, right?" Eleanor asked, voice tremulous in her anger but that McGonagall mistook from sadness.

"No, no, Miss Potter. Unfortunately your parents were killed, by a very powerful dark wizard." Eleanor opened her mouth to ask more but McGonagall stopped her. "I will explain everything to you in a moment but first, let me tell you about Hogwarts, all right?"

Eleanor nodded and let her continue.

"Hogwarts, like I said, is a school for magical people like the three of you. The students are divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I'm the Head of Gryffindor and therefore, the students in this house are under my care.

"Gryffindor values bravery. Hufflepuff values loyalty and hard work. Ravenclaw values intellingence while Slytherin values cunning and ambition.

"We offer many different subjects. I, for example, teach transfiguration, which is the branch of magic that is used to change one thing into another, to use a simple explanation. Transfiguration is a core subject together with Charms, Potions, Erbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts. In first year, beside these subjects you will also learn History of Magic and Astronomy. Furthermore, the first term of your first year we also offer flying lessons, with racing brooms. These racing brooms are used both as a method of transportation and for our sport called Quidditch. Students from second year and on can join their house team if they pass tryouts which are held during the first weeks of term. Before your third year you will also have the possibility to choose other subjects, in addition to the ones I have already mentioned. These subjects are Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. At the end of every year there be will exams, however the most important ones are those held at the end of the fifth and the seventh year since they will be recognized by the Ministry of Magic and will allow you to use magic once you reach seventeen years of age – the age of majority in the magical world – even if you don't finish Hogwarts for whatever reason.

"These are the letters that we send out every year to the students with your school supplies. We haven't sent them to you because we thought it would have been better for me to explain things in person." And with that she passed one letter to each of them.

The letter was in parchment, an address written in green ink on the back.

_Ms. Eleanor Potter_

_Room 13,_

_Wool's Orphanage,_

_London_

Eleanor opened the letter and looked inside. There were two papers on it. The first read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Ms. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

The second letter, on the other hand, showed a list of the school supplies they would need during the school year:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_UNIFORM_

_First-year students will require:_

_1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)_

_Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags._

_COURSE BOOKS_

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

_by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic_

_by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory_

_by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

_by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

_by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions_

_by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

_by Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

_by Quentin Trimble_

_OTHER EQUIPMENT_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS_

_ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus_

_Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions_

"Excuse me professor, but where will we find all these things? There are stores in London that actually sell wands or caldrons?" Gellert asked, curiously.

"There is a place, hidden from muggles, called Diagon Alley. It's where I'll take you today to buy your school things."

Eleanor frowned for half a second before smoothing her expression into one of innocent concern. "Professor, there's really no need for you to come with us and spend all day buying our school things. I'm sure you must have so much to do for the upcoming school year. We are perfectly able to go on our own, we're used to go to London alone all the time. If you explain to us where Diagon Alley is and how to find it, we'll go first thing tomorrow morning. You see, we're not allowed to go around the city during the week but we're free to explore during the weekends. Actually, I don't even know if the matron would actually allow us to come with you today even if we wanted to."

McGonagall had a slight frown on her face and she said, "I'm not sure I should let you go alone."

"But we're not alone professor." Tom immediately said with his charming half-smile. "We have each other."

McGonagall didn't seem happy but she relented in the end. After she explained that the entrance to Diagon Alley was in the back of a pub hidden from muggle eyes called the Leaky Cauldron and that Tom the bartender – at that Tom's left eye twitched slightly in irritation – would open the entrance for them if they asked, Eleanor couldn't keep silent anymore and asked about her parents.

McGonagall sighed and explained. "Our world had been involved in a war for more than fifty years, since the early thirties. Only in 1981 it finally stopped. You see, a very powerful dark wizard had risen to power, accumulating followers already during his school years – he was a Durmstrang student, one of the three most important magical schools in Europe beside Hogwarts and Beauxbatons – and went about rising an army of dark wizards from Germany and Great Britain especially, though some were from France, Russia, Italy and Spain, intent on overthrowing the magical ministries in Europe. He was a pureblood supremacist who believed that the only people worthy of possessing magic were those born into magical families. Everyone else, born of muggle blood, the halfbloods and the muggleborns, had to be banned from learning magic. Furthermore, he wanted to destroy the muggle world altogether and put magical people chosen by him as rulers of the new world he was going to create. He was cruel, dark, sadistic, the most evil person you can imagine. He gained the title of Dark Lord when he was only 16. He was also so powerful that nobody, not even Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and considered by many to be the most powerful wizard since Merlin himself, had been able to beat him. Albus himself duelled him in 1945 but neither of them was able to kill the other. Albus was able to disarm him though, in an epic duel that has been recorded in every history book.

"Like I said, no one in fifty years had been able to kill him. Until one night, the 31st of October 1981, he decided to target your parents. James and Lily Potter – that's your parents' names – had been fighting against him and his followers since they graduated from Hogwarts and they were two of the best students Hogwarts has ever seen. He was able to kill your parents but when he turned his wand against you, something happened. Somehow you survived while the most powerful dark wizard in centuries, if not the most powerful that has ever lived, was completely destroyed. Since that night you became known to our world as the girl-who-lived. You're famous, you see."

Eleanor shook her head, trying to assimilate all that she had heard. She recognized some things from her dreams but it was still very confusing. "Professor, the name of this dark wizard, what was it?" She asked in the end.

"Even if I knew it, I couldn't tell you. Only his most loyal and devoted followers were allowed to say his name. Everyone else who tries to utter his name find themselves incapable of it and in deep pain. Moreover, his name was erased from every book, every document that ever mentioned it. That was done as a way to forget him, in time. Of course everyone now, even after ten years, remembers him. However we hope that in a hundred years even the merest memory of him will be forgotten."

"Damnatio Memoriae." Eleanor murmured to herself.

McGonagall looked at her surprised and maybe a little impressed. "Yes, exactly."

"But if you don't utter his name, than what you do call him?" Gellert asked curiously.

"We call him the Dark Lord or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Eleanor nodded, not knowing what to say. Though she did have one question. "Professor you said that I'm famous in the magical world and that my parents were a witch and a wizard. Was there no one that could have taken me in? Why did I end up in a orphanage?"

McGonagall sighed. "Headmaster Dumbledore left you with your mother's family the night of the 31st of October 1981, soon after your parents' death. Your mother was a muggleborn and her sister Petunia – the woman Albus left you with – was a muggle. She probably decided that she didn't want to raise a magical child and left you here. If only we had found out before."

Eleanor smiled at her sweetly. "It's okay professor, really. It's not so bad here. And I have Gellert and Tom here, they are my best friends. I'm just glad to know that my parents didn't abandon me."

"Professor, do you know something about Tom's parents and mine?" Gellert asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about Mr Riddle's parents. Riddle is in fact not a surname I recognize. However the name Marvolo, your second name, is very possible is from a wizard family. For you, Mr Grindelwald, I know about your great aunt Bathilda Bagshot. She was your grandmother's aunt. In fact I know for a fact that both of them were Hogwarts' students. Your grandmother's name was Brianna. She married a German wizard and moved to Germany with him. His name was Gaufrid Grindelwald. They had your father, whose name was Gerhard. I know he was a brilliant student at Durmstrang. Unfortunately I don't know anything about your mother, I'm sorry.

"However, you can go to Gringotts, our bank, and ask for a lineage test, to see what magical family or families you belong to. It will also tell you if you have the right to one or more vaults. You can also ask for a complete family tree but it will cost you ten galleons each. Miss Potter will have no problem since her parents left her everything they owned and the Potters were a rich, pureblood family. For Mr. Grindelwald, it's possible your parents left you something, however you will have to ask the goblins – they are those that ran the bank – to move everything from the German branch of Gringotts into ours in Diagon Alley and it may take a few days. Hogwarts does have a fund for orphans but it's only enough to cover the school supplies."

"I'll pay for both of them. And since I know they both hate to own anything to anyone, I'll ask those money back when we'll find out what family Tom belongs to and what vault he has access to and when Gellert has access to the money his parents left him." Eleanor offered immediately.

Professor McGonagall nodded and gave Tom and Gellert two money bags and Eleanor a small, golden key that she explained was the key to her vault.

"Well, I think we're done for the day." McGonagall said in the end. "Of course I imagine you accept your invitation to Hogwarts." When the three of them answered positively she continued, "Then, I think it's time for me to go. One last thing though. The ticket you found inside your Hogwarts letter is for the train you will have to take on the first of September for Hogwarts. The train leaves at exactly 11 o'clock. The platform is 9 ¾ and is hidden from muggles. The entrance is on the wall of the platforms 9 and 10. You just have to walk through the wall and you will find yourselves on the other side."

After that and one last goodbye professor McGonagall left, completely taken by the three polite and charming orphans she had just met. If she had only asked Mrs Cole something about them before meeting them, maybe things would have gone differently. Fortunately for the three young prodigies, she didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to explain this because it's probably not very clear. I'll try to explain better in the later chapters by actually explaining it in the story but for now, I decided to write this and clarify things:
> 
> I'm sorry to disappoint you if that's what you wanted but there's no gonna be an unknown Dark Lord. To understand what I did in this chapter, you have to think about the fact that the spell Eleanor did literally modified her reality as she wanted it to. She wanted to 'go back' so to say to when she was eight years old but instead of being back at the Dursleys she imagined herself in a orphanage with Tom and Gellert, both the same age as hers. Both Tom and Gellert were alive in 1988, so what she did - or really what the spell did - is 'move' them both to Wool's orphanage. The spell also killed Bathilda Bagshot so that Gellert had really no other relative alive. At that point in time Grindelwald was in Nurmengard so the spell 'freed' him from his prison and turned him into a 8 years old, also, obviously modifying his memory. The same thing happened with Voldemort. Though not alive exactly, Voldemort still existed. The spell put his soul back together and gave him back his eight year old body and modified his memory too. That's why Eleanor doesn't have the parselmouth ability until she learned it from Tom, she's not a horcrux in this story. None of this would have been possible if one of them had been dead in 1988. Of course the false memories of their first years at the orphanage were also 'put' - so to say' - in Eleanor's head and to everyone else who lived there of course and the Dursleys too about the famous Halloween night. Now, with this explained, of course there's to remember that the entire Wizarding World remembered both Voldemort and Grindelwald. What the spell did is modify the memories of everyone in the Wizarding World so that they don't associate Tom or Gellert to a Dark Lord. The 'unknown Dark Lord' of the chapter is actually a mix of both Grindelwald and his actions and Voldemort and his actions. I didn't want to give him a name because he didn't actually exist so I opted for the 'damnatio memoriae' thing. When I said that Eleanor had 'destroyed' the Dark Lord, she actually did, for real. There's no Dark Lord anymore, at all. And there's not going to be one until the three of them rise to power. That's why the spell required so much magic, because we're talking about mass memory manipulation and other things like Tom's parents and grandfather being 'recorded' as having lived in the 70's instead of in the 20's, same thing with Gellert's parents and relatives. I hope it's clear now.


End file.
